Tuesday, August 19

We are about to make another big step in Granton's feeds which took less time than I thought. Last night, the nurses bumped up the volume to 160ml to see how well Granton handled the change. His stomach has been able to hold the extra milk, so mom is taking a risk and allowing Granton to receive 180 ml today. That means tonight he will not have to have any milk at all and will wake up to an empty tummy. He loves his rice cereal so, hopefully, he will have enough hunger to eat well in the morning. Also, anytime I have a food tray, Granton acts as though he's about to salivate. So, yesterday evening I sat him next to me while I ate dinner and gave him a rice wafer to chew on. He ate the whole thing plus another half. He seems more interested in our food rather than baby food, and especially when he gets to feed himself. The dietition was happy that he tolerated the volume of the feeds and said that this is a huge step toward eating orally or three meals a day.

The cultures haven't grown anything since Thursday so that is more good news. Granton will continue his antibiotic for this new bacteria until Sunday. This means, we will probably schedule the surgeries early next week. So far, the bacteria infections in his blood stream have all been different and seem to relate to his stools or come from the gut according to the doctors. They will be giving Granton a preventative antibiotic for these infections so we will not have to be bothered by them anymore. This last one was caught later and sent us in emergency mode. We hope to avoid this with the preventative antibiotic. He was given this same antibiotic before at the time of transplant, but hasn't received it up to now. We are determined to get a negative test result on the RSV. He had another test run yesterday. And, his donor percentage should be known in the next few days. We are waiting now for the B-cells to start producing, but that might take a few months. He had quite a bit of his own already and only the partial chemo treatment to clear them. I think it will be reassuring to discover for a second time that his T-cell engraphtment is still high like it was last time.

Granton is still the sweet happy boy he always has been and manages to play just fine in his hospital bed, exersaucer, floor mat, or pod chair. Yesterday, I was sitting beside him on the bed sewing while he was watching a movie in his pod chair. Occasionally, I'd get a little tug on my sleeve as he pulled me over to watch with him. I just snuggled over and explained what was on the screen and then he kept watching. I am proud of how well he is entertaining himself, too, just like now as I type this blog. We are so thankful for our little man and for all the people who diligently prayed for him during his down days.

Jenni